Federal Appeals Court Upholds $5 Million Penalty Verdict E. Jean Carroll Against Trump

On Monday, a federal appeals court in New York rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s appeal, ordering him to pay $5 million to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The Hill reported, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded Trump did not sufficiently show any claimed errors affected his rights or warranted a new trial.  

“On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the panel wrote in its unsigned opinion. 

Trump requested a new trial over allegations that the jury heard improper testimony and Trump was wrongly precluded from asking Carroll certain questions during cross-examination. 

The New York jury found Trump liable last year for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and defaming her by denying her story when she came forward during Trump’s first presidency. 

Steven Cheung a Trump spokesperson set to become his White House communications director, said in a statement that Trump will continue to appeal the verdict.

“The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” Cheung said in a statement.

“We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again,” he added.

In a separate case, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in defamation damages for continuing to deny her story. 

Unlike many other court cases brought against Trump that have ended since he was re-elected to the presidency, Carroll’s cases continue, with the $83.3 million defamation appeal still looming.